Sheet materials which include a thin layer of pressure-sensitive adhesive protected from inadvertent contact, as well as methods and apparatus for manufacturing them, have been developed and are described in detail in commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,662,758, issued to Hamilton et al. entitled “Composite Material Releasably Sealable to a Target Surface When Pressed Thereagainst and Method of Making”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,871,607, issued to Hamilton et al. entitled “Material Having A Substance Protected by Deformable Standoffs and Method of Making”, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,965,235 issued to McGuire, et al. entitled “Three-Dimensional, Nesting-Resistant Sheet Materials and Method and Apparatus for Making Same” and U.S. Pat. No. 6,194,062 issued to Hamilton et al. entitled “Improved Storage Wrap Materials”. Such processes, however, tend to be relatively slow and not suitable for high speed commercial applications. Accordingly, alternative processes such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,193,918 B1 issued to McGuire et al. entitled “High Speed Embossing and Adhesive Printing Process and Apparatus” have been developed to address the issues related to the speed of the process. In such processes, release coatings are used on some of the rolls in order to release the adhesive and web via peel, i.e. adhesive failure, when the web is stripped from the roll. Although such processes have been found to provide for increased line speeds, the use of a release substance on one or more rolls can limit the amount of time a line can run before being shut down for repair or replacement of the release coated rolls. In practice, release coatings typically do not provide release for extended periods of time due to wear or loss of release properties. The result is poor roll life requiring frequent replacement of the coated rolls.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a process for manufacturing adhesively coated or printed webs that does not require the use of a release coating on the roll that transfers adhesive to the web and/or a method of extending the life of coated rolls. The present invention eliminates the need for a release coating by providing the adhesive at a temperature that results in “splitting” the adhesive by means of cohesive failure of the adhesive rather than via a peel mechanism or adhesive failure between the adhesive and the roll. The method of the present invention can also be used in conjunction with rolls including a release coating or surface to extend the life of the coating or surface.
All documents cited are, in relevant part, incorporated herein by reference; the citation of any document is not to be construed as an admission that it is prior art with respect to the present invention.